Okay this is my first post. I am completely ignorant when it comes to circuit electronics and I think I am in the right place for the help I need. I have these small motors that I am going to power with a 1.5v D cell batterys(although i can change that if I need to the motors are rated up to several volts) but I need them to come off and on at intervals. The timing isn't terribly important but something like on for 30 sec then off for 30sec or on for 10 and off for 30. It could even be on for as little as 5secs but I need the off time to probably be atleast 30 sec or longer. This is for a small bird decoy project I am working on. I am pretty handy but I am lost when it comes to all this electronic stuff. I have looked into it and think I need something like a Multivibrator or 555 timer or something but I have no idea how to put it together or what parts to use.

The motors are going to power bird wings so that they flutter like when a bird is landing or taking off. I just need a little bit of flutter with a decent pause. I need someone just to lay out what I need to get and a decent explanation of how to put it together. If I can atleast get a basic Idea of how to put it together then I can experiment with the different components to get the result I need.

search 555 timer for the timer. when you figure out how it works, you may understand my post better. the flaping part is a mechanical issue not electronic. all you need for that is a wheel attached to the motor and have two cranks connected to the middle of the wings and one quarter of the wheel, like on an rc orthinihopter. ill show a cad tomorrow.

Actually for the wings flapping they will just be spinning on a shaft that is connected to the motor spindle via a belt(o-ring) I just need them to spin real fast for a few seconds and then stop for a while. A group of these together going off and on should look like a group of birds landing and taking off. Never the less I am just looking for these small motors to come on for a short burst then take a pause before doing it again.

I have looked into 555 timers but I am having a hard time figuring out what discrete parts to get to acheive the result I need for the voltage I'm using.

555 is a good inexpensive option but it's not the easiest. if you're interested in robotics and want to continue after this project then i'd recommend getting or building a micro controller which you can use for this and many more complicated projects. 555 will make continuous high and low pulses. this means that it will be on for as long as you set it for and then off for as long as you set it for (i think it can differ) but it is very limited in what it can do. with a microcontroller you can set it to to go whenever certain input is provided or at certain timings and it can control other systems as well. the $50 robot tutorial has an inexpensive microcontroler or you can try the arduino which is another inexpensive yet very versatile and simple to use mcu.

Logged

"sure, you can test your combat robot on kittens... But all your going to do is make kitten juice"

ok, were gonna have a timer that will be on until the timer turns its output low. the output of that will go to the motor and goes through an inverter to another timer, which is off until it turns inself on, and the output of that goes to a circuit that stops a high signal after (blank) seconds of pass time. the out put from that goes to the input of the first timer. in theory it will be a timer that you can change the time of the on/off periods. if you dont understand something i said, google it! make the timers with 555s (search monostable multivibrator 555 circuit for info on that), and build your own inverters (search inverter schematic) or buy them. id suggest not using a microcontroller, as this project can help boost your electronic skills.